4.  The applicants were born in 1951 and 1947 and live in St Petersburg and Sosnoviy Bor (Leningrad Region) respectively.
5.  As can be seen from a pro forma invoice dated 7 April 1999 and submitted by the first applicant (Mr Vasilyev), a private company named Nissan Trading Europe Limited offered to undertake to sell him a car and to ship it to him. The invoice indicated the means of shipping (CIF Helsinki) and the details concerning the car, including its price, namely 11,900 United States dollars (USD). The second applicant (Mr Kovtun) submitted a similar invoice dated 30 March 1999 for a car priced at USD 14,900.
6.  In July 1999 the applicants submitted customs declarations and the above invoices to the Russian customs authorities for clearance. The applicants applied for a waiver of customs duties, considering that their status under the Chernobyl-related legislation entitled them to such an exemption. On 5 August 1999 the Sosnovoborsk Town Court of the Leningrad Region ordered the customs authorities to release the second applicant’s car for use without payment of any customs duties. The President of the Leningrad Regional Court applied for supervisory review of this decision. On 10 December 1999 the Presidium of the Leningrad Regional Court (“the Presidium”) granted his request, and set aside the judgment of 5 August 1999. The Presidium considered that on the date of the application for customs clearance, the second applicant had no entitlement to an exemption. It appears that proceedings to the same effect also took place in respect of the first applicant.
7.  In the meantime, on 27 July 1999 the national authorities instituted criminal proceedings (case no. 990666) against unspecified persons in relation to numerous unlawful imports of cars from abroad. On 12 and 16 August 1999 an investigator issued charging orders in respect of a large number of cars, including the above-mentioned cars which had been submitted for customs clearance by the applicants. They were interviewed as witnesses. It was established that the applicants’ situation was not related to the circumstances of case no. 990666. The said charging orders were accordingly annulled.
8.  It appears that in or around September 2000 the applicants were requested to provide additional documents in order to finalise the customs clearance. When they did not comply with this requirement in time, the customs authority impounded the cars and placed them in the hands of a State-owned enterprise.
9.  In November 2000 the applicants offered to pay the required customs duty for customs clearance of the cars. They also unsuccessfully sought permission to take the cars out of Russian territory, citing financial hardship.
10.  On 14 and 22 November 2000 customs officers compiled reports on the applicants’ alleged violation of applicable customs regulations and applied for confiscation orders on account of the applicants’ alleged non-declaration of imported goods, in breach of Article 279 § 1 of the Customs Code.
11.  By judgments of 24 July 2002 the Volkhov Town Court, with Judge P. sitting in a single-judge formation, issued confiscation orders in respect of the cars. The judge held as follows:
“[The second applicant] was mentioned as the owner of the car submitted for customs clearance...The customs inquiry and the criminal inquiry concerning forgery of authority forms established that [the second applicant] had been contacted by a certain Sergey, whom he did not know, and had been asked to carry out, for a fee, the customs clearance of a car for him (Sergey). On 17 July 1999 [the second applicant] had forged an authority form for importing a specific car from abroad. He had not signed any other document for the customs authorities, and had not handed over any money to buy the car. As he explained, he indeed had signed an authority form and had submitted the clearance documents, whereas the car had been paid for by Sergey. [The second applicant] had been present during the customs inspection of the car. He claims to be the car owner. However, a handwriting expert report indicates that while [the second applicant] has signed the authority form, the customs declaration has been signed by another person. Thus, [the second applicant] has not properly carried out the customs clearance.
The investigating authorities issued a charging order in respect of the car... On 23 June 2000 the charging order was revoked... On 27 September 2000 [the second applicant] was informed of the need to process the customs clearance ... but he did not comply with the required time-limits. Thus he committed a violation of the customs regulations, in breach of Article 279 § 1 of the Customs Code... No fine can be imposed, owing to the expiry of the liability time-limits... [The second applicant] should be held liable and the car should be seized as the direct object of the customs offence... Such confiscation may be imposed irrespective of the principal or subsidiary nature of the penalty ... and may be imposed within three years of the date of the violation of the customs regulations. Under Article 380 of the Code it does not matter whether the person responsible for the violation owned the vehicle to be seized as the object of the offence. Also, it does not matter whether the owner has been established...”
A judgment in similar terms was issued by the judge also in respect of the first applicant. The applicants had not been notified of the hearing and did not attend it.
12.  Having learnt about the above judgments, on 29 July and 2 August 2002 the applicants’ representatives lodged appeals.
13.  Despite the pending appeal proceedings, on 6 August 2002 the confiscation orders were submitted to the local bailiffs’ office for execution. The orders bore the Town Court’s stamp, indicating that they had become final, and were signed by Judge P. and the court registrar.
14.  On 8 August 2002 the bailiff handed over the cars to a State enterprise, which subsequently sold them.
15.  On 27 November 2002 the Leningrad Regional Court examined the applicants’ appeals against the confiscation orders of 24 July 2002 and annulled them on the ground that the Volkhov Town Court had had no jurisdiction to hear the case. The case was remitted for examination by the Primorskiy District Court of St Petersburg.
16.  On 5 February 2003 the Primorskiy District Court held the following:
“As follows from Article 4.5 of the Code of Administrative Offences in force since 1 July 2002, a decision concerning a customs offence cannot be issued after the expiry of one year from the date on which the offence was committed. Under Article 24.5 § 6 of the Code, administrative offence proceedings cannot be initiated or continued if the time-limits for liability have expired. Since the offence was committed more than one year ago, the proceedings should be discontinued...
The car ... and the documents should be returned to the lawful holder after the necessary customs clearance. If the holder cannot be identified, what should be done with the car should be considered in civil court proceedings...”
No appeal was lodged against this decision, which accordingly became final.
17.  The applicants sought the institution of criminal proceedings against Judge P., who had wrongly allowed the enforcement of the confiscation orders to proceed before the appeal proceedings against these orders had been determined. By a letter of 7 May 2003 the Prosecutor’s Office of the Leningrad Region dismissed their request, noting that the confiscation orders had been annulled. The regional Judges Qualifications Board also refused to deal with the applicants’ complaint.
18.  In addition, the applicants, acting through Mr Pursiainen, brought civil proceedings against the Judicial Department of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Justice and the customs office. They claimed compensation for the pecuniary loss caused to them by the premature execution of the confiscation orders. The applicants complained that the reports of 14 and 22 November 2000 (see paragraph 10 above) had been unlawfully compiled in their absence, that they had not been notified of those reports and that the customs office had applied to the wrong court for the confiscation orders. According to the applicants, the bailiffs had unlawfully initiated enforcement proceedings and should have declined jurisdiction in favour of another bailiffs’ office. The applicants contended as follows:
“The disposal of the cars was rendered possible owing to the violation of the legislation by the officials of the customs office, the judge of the Town Court and the bailiff. An individual violation by one of those public officials could not have, in itself, resulted in the unlawful disposal of the cars which caused pecuniary damage... The actions of the above authorities, taken in their entirety, have caused significant pecuniary damage.”
The applicants relied on Article 6 of the Convention, Article 53 of the Constitution and the Constitutional Court’s ruling of 25 January 2001, as well as Article 322, Article 1064 and Article 1070 § 2 of the Civil Code (see paragraphs 25 and 28-30 below).
19.  By a procedural decision of 30 June 2003 the Oktyabrskiy Court of the Admiralteyskiy District of St Petersburg held that the case could not be examined. Referring to Articles 132 and 136 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the court held that the action for damages required evidence of a prior criminal conviction of a judge. Thus, the applicants were required to submit a copy of such a judgment.
20.  In November 2003 the applicants wrote to the above court, inquiring about the state of the proceedings in their case. The District Court replied, restating the contents of the decision of 30 June 2003. Considering that the applicants had not received a copy of that decision, the court allowed them to submit the required documents by 11 December 2003. Alternatively, they were informed of their right to lodge an appeal against the decision of 30 June 2003, also seeking that the expired time-limit for an appeal be extended on account of a valid reason.
21.  The applicants’ lawyer appealed, relying on the ruling of the Constitutional Court of 25 January 2001 (see paragraph 29 below), and arguing that a criminal court judgment was not indispensable in the circumstances.
22.  On 28 January 2004 the St Petersburg City Court examined the appeal and endorsed the reasoning of the decision of 30 June 2003.
23.  On 1 March 2004 the District Court established that the applicants had not complied with the decision of 30 June 2003, and thus discontinued the case. The applicants did not appeal.